My First Ever Solo Train Trip in America
Explore
Central Valley California
(4/26/2014 – 4/29/2014)
Preface
This
trip was one of many field trips I had made since I temporarily settled in
Ventura, California on 1/10/2014 after my retirement. I am a grandmother and the caretaker of my grandson Forest
now. With the freedom to have my weekend
off and my daughter and son-in-law’s occasional getaway to recharge their
battery, I declined the offer to ride with them to San Francisco where their
college reunion took place.
The
reasons: I was not invited this
time, as I was when Louisa came to town from Dallas, Texas on 2/16/2014. Besides, I was afraid to stay in the
empty house, which is not my own for four days.
The
tantalizing hints of free ride along the scenic Pacific Highway 1 on the back
seat with my grandbaby to entertain captivated me. Plus the luxuries of being guided by my son-in-law’s
explanation of each town through his eyes as a California local had my instant
excitement for a while. During the discussion, my daughter’s
spurred-of-the-moment remark, “I do not want the backseat parenting though,
mom” caught me off guard.
So, I told them politely that I would consider about it and get back to
them soon.
After
a serious thought overnight, I pondered over if I am truly welcomed as a rider or
a caretaker. The jittery feeling of being robbed as a
female solo traveler woke me up in my dream with the cold sweat. But, I decided to calm myself down and
declined to accept the friendly offer.
I know my close friend, Jenny, my classmate from Taiwan Provincial
Hsinchu Girls Senior High School and National Cheng Kung University whom I am visiting
and my husband back in Maryland would have thought about me, “What a stubborn
old head I am!”
Yes,
all I need to do is setting off on my own to have the solitude moment of my
life for a change. Being
robbed? I am an old lady with no
jewelry on except a wrist Timex watch.
It would be interesting to see what these California bandits want me
for?
Snapshots from the Roads
So, off I went with one carry-on luggage and my MacBook Air computer to
the Central Valley California via San Joaquin (a.k.a. Mountain Line 山線) from Bakersfield to Richmond (5 hr & 44 min.) The Amtrak Thruway bus connected
me first from Ventura to Bakersfield (3 hr & 10 min.) Thanks to my old pal, Jenny, a Fremont
local for the past 20 years. Her
advice to me is to cut down the highway travel due to the notorious traffic
congestion. It may cause the
delayed connection with rail line.
Otherwise, I would have taken the Pacific Surf Liner (a.k.a. Coastal
Line 海線) from Ventura to San Louis Obispo (3.25
hr.) instead and Amtrak Thruway bus connection from there to San Jose (4 hr.)
Ventura – The Beginning of
the Journey
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| The Lone Ranger - California Adventure - Ventura Bus Stop before 6:45 a.m. |
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| San Joaquin (Brown Line 山線) |
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| My Amtrak E-Ticket |
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| Central Valley California |
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| San Joaquin Route Map |
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| The Vast Flat Green Valley in California |
America
is a big country. This is a fact
that it is the world’s 2nd richest country, next to Russia, when it comes
to natural resources. I did some
homework about the towns where the San Joaquin would stop once my decision to
make the solo. You couldn’t
imagine how anxious I was to see what exactly the world’s largest patch of Class
A soil was. It can grow the
majority of the produce you eat everyday, and surprisingly, the plenty for the
rest of the world as well.
Oxnard, Santa Paula, Saticoy,
Fillmore – Thruway Bus Stops
I
sat across from the driver for the first 3 hours of Amtrak Thruway Bus
Connecting from Ventura to Bakersfield.
I made my notes capturing the possible photo shots, town after town, to
match with the map.
He drove on Highway
101 from Ventura, to Oxnard and Highway 118 W to Saticoy, and Highway 126 E to
Santa Paula, Fillmore before exiting to I-5 for Santa Clarita.
The sweeping view of verdant tress and
plants yield a third of all the produce grown in the United States.
These areas are the “capitals of the
strawberries and citrus.”
These
parts of the landscapes I have already covered in a few web journals during my
early field trips.
I sought the
opportune moment to strike the conversation with the driver.
“What are those plants covered in the
plastics?”
“What about other
plants outside the covers?“
He kindly filled the answers with my questions on my notebook when I kept shooting
the pictures.
He probably wondered
if I am one of those reporters from some magazines – Nuts!
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| The Amtrack Thruway Bus Driver |
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| The Citrus Capital of the World |
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| Chards, Strawberries, Kales, and Mustard Greens |
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| Newly Plowed Field - Crop Rotation Process |
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Little Dots on the Picture - Field Workers
Most of them are migrant farmers whose lives are marginalized economically & socially – I had a feel for them deeply |
Irrigation system
It
had rained only 3 days in February since my visit in October 2013. Water, mainly from Colorado River,
through Federal, State Aqueduct projects are pumped and channeled over the long
distance to this region. You can
imagine the large amounts of energy consumed. To these days, amid one of the worst droughts in
history, announced by Governor Jerry Brown, I won’t take water for granted any
more.
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| The above 2 pictures - Revolving Sprinklers |
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| The above 2 pictures - Federal or Private Reservoirs |
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| The above 2 pictures - Walking Sprinklers |
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| The Ranch Owners May Own the Water Right or Rent for Other Farmers for Profit |
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| The above 3 pictures - Giant-sized Water Pipes follow me for about 3 hours along the railroad |
Angeles National Forest
The
bus climbed up the Angeles National Forest on I-5 – elevation 4144 ft. The scenery changed from the endless
green fields to rugged mountains strewed with rocks and cacti plants and wild
yellow flowers. I kept my notebook
with names such as, Castaic Recreation Center, Hungry Valley, Gorman, Frazier
Mountain, Lake Isabella, Lebec, Kern County, Fort Tejon Pass – State Historical
Park while the truck load of yellow oranges passing by. I saw the hovering cloud stormed in at
the side of the mountain. An
ominous wind swept across the highway from the valley, the sky turned dark
slowly, then it started to get misty on the windows. I couldn’t picture why the weather could change from the
bright sunny day to either snow or freezing rain at this elevation. During the conversation with the
driver, he told me it was the “heavy Tule fog or freezing rain” happening often
in this part of the Central Valley.
I later Google and found out I had witnessed the phenomenon that caused
many accidents in this region.
Luckily, we were ok with his driving. The driver then turned off the headlights. The fog, freezing rain or mist had
lifted when I saw the sign 35 miles to Bakersfield, where I would connect the
San Joaquin train line to Richmond.
It’s 9:30 a.m. already; I began to worry about the train connection at
10:05 a.m. from Bakersfield.
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| The above 2 pictures - Driving up from 3000 ft to 4144 ft elevation |
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| The Cloud Formed at the Valley |
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| The Tule Fog - Freezing Rain or Mist |
Fort Tejon Pass - Maricopa
The
weather became bright sunny again when the driver exited onto Highway 99. Along I-5 with grape vineyards planting
with different stages of the growth cycle, I saw the lush green, purple colors
of different vegetables. Later the
driver would tell me that there are melons, lettuce, asparagus, cabbage,
broccoli, chard, collards, cilantro, tomatoes and others that have no names at
all in English. I was awestruck
about the mega-size of the field.
I also made notes for interesting road signs – Copus Rd., Green Field
Rd., Cotton Wood Ave., Petroleum Club Rd., and Union Rd. … etc. Look at the different colors of
Oleander Plants (夾竹桃) planted in the middle of I-5. The Folks probably know that these
plants with beautiful flowers can be quite poisonous. I remember there were growing rampantly at the Student
Center Gazebo 成功堂 in Tainan Campus
when we spent 4 years of our college life.
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| Oleander Plants -夾竹桃 - along I-5 with grape vineyards on both sides. |
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| Land of Billion Vegetables & Fruits |
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| Grape Vineyard |
San Joaquin Train Station – Bakersfield
We
made it to the train station around 10:10 am. The train waited for all the passengers to board. My train journey began when I climbed
up the upper part of double-deck and settled myself comfortably on the seat.
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| The Long Ranger's Belongings |
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| Bakersfield Train Station |
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| My work station – spacious desktop all to myself, large windows allow me to angle some of my photo shoots, Wi-Fi connection, ample room to stretch, and roomy clean bathroom |
Agricultural Machine (U.S. Economic
Hub) – Central Valley, California
This
is a vast agricultural breadbasket that runs 450 miles. My trip covers about 400 miles
(Bakersfield – Richmond.) The
railroad crossed through the large flat valley with aesthetically lined
agricultural fields that produce the food we consumed daily. For almost 4 hours, from Bakersfield to
Antioch, before the San Pablo Bay water showed up in my view, there was
wondrous excitement in the sweeping vistas of fields and orchards. I have seen California’s agricultural
engine-room where grapes, cotton, hays, almonds, tomatoes, plumb, oranges,
peaches and nectarines are the primary industry.
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| The land left abandoned for reasons I do not know - waiting for new owners? |
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| The ground water pipes are layed properly for each row |
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| The machine did all the jobs - color coded with young seedlings |
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| The hays ready to be harvested for feed |
Instant Tutor - Charla
The
3rd generation Armenia immigrant, Charla, who was on her way from
Modera to Stockton, and Sacramento for connection to Nevada to visit her
daughter, gave me the crash course about her father’s farming experience in
almonds, pistachios and walnuts. He
not only owns one of the ranches in Modera, he is also a Field Forman,
responsible for labor contract with hiring different ethnic workers. This was the most valuable input on top
of my own research before the journey.
The homework I made about the Armenians’ contributions and other ethnic
groups in Central Valley support what she shared with me in our 1-½ hours’
ride.
Agricultural Supporting Business
If
this is “The world’s richest agricultural valley,” I have seen the hundreds of auxiliary
industries along side of the railroad to help the business thriving. There are fuel distributors, solar panel
installation, water distributors, trucking firms, packing houses, equipment
dealers, chemical factories, pest-control firms, suppliers, fertilizer
applicators, repair and manufacturing facilities and of course, the field
workers who kneel, stoop and squat in the rows of vegetable farms. Grandma Janice knows the pains
from caring the grand baby for the past 6 months.
I
also shot the line of Port-a-Johns to show the activities of that ranch during
the day.
There are also the
largest cattle, and sheep ranch, junkyard, automobile salvage and RV-park.
You cannot just drive around in your
comfy car without being amazed at the sheer magnitude of it all.
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| Field Workers & Port-a-Johns |
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| RV Park |
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| Junkyard of the world – some of my office pals – the aficionado of the 1950s should love this. |
American Graffiti - Arts or Vandalism
My
eyes have been swimming in a sea of endlessly monotonous landscape since I left
for Ventura 6:45 a.m. Sometimes it’s
green with different shades from various planting stages; sometimes it’s burnt-brown
and charred-black due to plowing and crop rotation for maintaining a
sustainable agriculture.
Charla, my instant tutor – taught me how to differentiate the variety of
different fruit trees along the way, was getting ready to get off the next
station, Stockton. It’s almost
3:00 p.m. We were in the
discussion of life-cycle (10-15 years) for almond tress and the prevention of
ground-squirrel damages to her father’s almond ranch. We bid farewell and she recommended me to tour Blue Diamond
factory someday where her brother, who works in Modesto Plant. I missed it when the double-decker
mile-long freight train constantly blocked my view at the window when she
pointed to me. These double-stack
container train were stretching to the end of the horizon until all disappeared
from my eyes, where I couldn’t see any longer. You have to be here to feel the train horns and the
vibes of these colorful and distinct graffiti cargo containers. It’s the physical evidence of American
Culture – “Right to Freedom of Speech.”
Are they arts or vandalism? Is it eye sore or aesthetic? Or are they the murals I grew quite
fond of them at Santa Paula downtown?
North of San Francisco Bay
Before
I new it, my destination, Richmond station was on the east side of San
Francisco Bay. I passed two towns,
Antioch and Martinez without seeing any scenic views of Yosemite National Park,
or Sierra National Forest or Sequoia National Park I thought I would have? I must have thought the back road train
would give me the glimpse of those natural wonders. We were on the east side of the flat valley, too far to see
the geological formation of that part of the lands. I shot some pictures of Bay views with bridges, some
collections of navy and commercial ships docked on the bay. The scenery was quite different from the
Central valley towns. Instead,
it’s the shimmering water with rolling green hills.
My
friends Jenny, Peter and Susan had already met up and called. After planning for one month, my Senior
High School and College reunion finally came to fruition. This marks the beginning of our
old neighbor and college relationship between Peter/Susan and me, uprooted from
Maryland as a grandparent in California.
And for Jenny, who is not only an old chum of both Senior High School and
College days, we can also reconnect from where we left off, no matter how far
and how long we have been away.
It’s quite remarkable!
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| Martinez, Benicia-Martinez Bridge - Getting Closer to my end Journey - Richmond |
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| Richmond - I Made it Finally |
BART – Bay Area Rapid Transit
I
made the journey of my first ever solo trip via San Joaquin. Jenny, my old pal who masterfully
crafted everything, arranged the rest of the trip for me. With time and solitude on my side, I
sometimes fell into a reverie about how we both, as a freshman, rode the
midnight homebound train from Tainan campus to Hsinchu – 10+ hours. We both were so young and naïve but
full of ambitions to ever fulfill our life-long dreams of getting advanced degrees and settling down in this
country.
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| BART - It's similar to DC Metro System - I feel like coming home already - I am no longer Nervous any more |
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| 2-year-old baby with her mom in torn jeans & phone on hands – it’s grandma’s eye catching the sweet baby |
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| Generation X/Y of SMART phones – a sight too familiar – I will be one of those items in the museum for them to look at one day |
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| Jenny’s house in Fremont is nearby at the bottom of the hills |
Amazing reunion
It’s
a rewarding and enlightening experience - It’s not a scary world out
there. I have kept myself boxed up
where I feel safe in Ventura for the past six months. So venturing out alone is not the same thing as being
lonely. On the eve of my
departure, Jenny and I both sang our beloved songs taught at our senior high
school again - Ask the Nightingales &
the swallows - 問鶯燕 - 黄友棣, Bygone
Days - 本事- 黄友棣 and Hearing
the Flute Sound 聞笛 - 李抱忱.
She promised to go along with me on the train ride
one day to anywhere we love.
Because she was the one, who makes me fall in love with the train ride
so far.
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| HS/NCKU reunion – 88-year-old – Jenny’s mom |
Downtown San Francisco
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| Folks in MUNI - Municipal Transit System in San Francisco |
Alcatraz
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| Our Tickets to Alcatraz |
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| True Friend with Golden Gate Bridge behind us at Alcatraz |
China Town
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| I am a tourist doing what tourists would do. The Dim Sum is cooked for those celebrities not for us. |
Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factories
I purchased one big bag for my daughter and
son-in-law’s family in Portland, Oregon as a souvenir. I found these four fortune
telling phrases most true, when we all shared our trip as a family together.
. Try a new hat for a change in looks. Be creative!
. A Pleasant Surprise is in store for you.
. You have a strong desire for a home and your family
comes first.
. Your home is a pleasant place from which you will
draw happiness.
